The present invention relates to a powered carrier, and more particularly to a powered hand truck.
Hand trucks (or dollies) are well known and commonly used both residentially and commercially to move objects from place to place. Many improvements have been made over recent years to improve hand trucks, and current models provide quality and convenience. A basic example of known hand trucks is shown in side view in FIG. 1A, and in front view in FIG. 1B. Such hand truck finds many residential and commercial uses.
However, due to the geometry of basic hand trucks, they are limited to carrying objects of limited dimensions. Convertible hand trucks having four wheels have been developed which are able to carry object too bulky for two wheel hand trucks. An example of a convertible hand truck is shown in side view in FIG. 2A, and in front view in FIG. 2B, and is further shown in FIG. 3 converted from a hand truck to a platform.
Because of the high quality built into many hand trucks, they may be used to move very heavy objects. While these qualities have expanded the utility of hand trucks, the ability to carry heavy objects has also created greater weights for users to deal with. Such heavy weight has created a need for some form of power assistance for hand truck users. However, in order to retain the utility of the hand truck, the powered hand truck must have weight and dimensions similar to the prior art hand truck. Additionally, the powered hand truck must be controllable in a safe manner, and must allow manual use of the powered hand truck in the event that the power unit fails. Because there are many prior art hand trucks in use, there is a further need to easily convert manual hand trucks to powered hand trucks.